The Founders on Citizenship and Immigration

Principles and Challenges in America

Edward J. Erler; John Marini and Thomas G. West

Working with the underlying premise that America's founding principles continue to be vital in the modern era, Erler, Marini, and West take a conservative look at immigration, one of today's most pressing political issues. Character_the capacity to live a life befitting republican citizens_is, as the Founders knew, crucial to the debate about immigration. The Founders on Citizenship and Immigration seeks to revive the issue of republican character in the current immigration debate and to elucidate the constitutional foundations of American citizenship. Published in cooperation with the Claremont Institute.
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Edward J. Erler is professor of political science at California State University, San Bernardino and a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute. John Marini is associate professor of political science at University of Nevada, Reno and a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute. Thomas G. West is professor of politics at the University of Dallas and a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute.

The economic, social, and cultural concerns about massive illegal immigration from Mexico have long been discussed. But rarely have we examined the massive influx in historical and legal terms of citizenship—how did the founders and their successors deal with problems of being an American, and what are the effects of massive noncompliance with the laws of the United States? Edward J. Erler, John Marini, and Thomas G. West are to be congratulated for their sober exploration of the racial and class considerations that seem to prevent us from enforcing the very laws that we have passed.— Victor Davis Hanson, Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution and author of Mexifornia: A State of Becoming

The Founders on Citizenship and Immigration

Principles and Challenges in America

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Working with the underlying premise that America's founding principles continue to be vital in the modern era, Erler, Marini, and West take a conservative look at immigration, one of today's most pressing political issues. Character_the capacity to live a life befitting republican citizens_is, as the Founders knew, crucial to the debate about immigration. The Founders on Citizenship and Immigration seeks to revive the issue of republican character in the current immigration debate and to elucidate the constitutional foundations of American citizenship. Published in cooperation with the Claremont Institute.

Edward J. Erler is professor of political science at California State University, San Bernardino and a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute. John Marini is associate professor of political science at University of Nevada, Reno and a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute. Thomas G. West is professor of politics at the University of Dallas and a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute.

The economic, social, and cultural concerns about massive illegal immigration from Mexico have long been discussed. But rarely have we examined the massive influx in historical and legal terms of citizenship—how did the founders and their successors deal with problems of being an American, and what are the effects of massive noncompliance with the laws of the United States? Edward J. Erler, John Marini, and Thomas G. West are to be congratulated for their sober exploration of the racial and class considerations that seem to prevent us from enforcing the very laws that we have passed.— Victor Davis Hanson, Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution and author of Mexifornia: A State of Becoming